Federal Way armed fentanyl dealer sentenced to 15 years in prison

Seattle – A 27-year-old Federal Way, Washington, resident was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to 180 months in prison for distribution of fentanyl and carrying a firearm in commission of a drug trafficking crime, announced U.S. Attorney Nick Brown. Fernando Lopez-Armenta has been in custody since his arrest on August 4, 2021.

According to records filed in the case, a confidential source received a phone call from Lopez-Armenta on August 4, 2021, stating that he was willing to sell him fentanyl. Later that day, Lopez-Armenta met the confidential source in his car in Federal Way, intending to sell the source 10,000 fentanyl pills, with 4,000 more stashed in his car.

Once it was confirmed that Lopez-Armenta possessed illegal narcotics, agents moved in to arrest him. Upon seeing the agents, Lopez-Armenta stepped out of his car and pointed his loaded pistol in the direction of agents and the confidential source. Lopez-Armenta finally put his pistol down on the hood of his car after a verbal order from another agent. He was subsequently arrested. At the sentencing hearing, U.S. District Judge Coughenour stated, “The Court commends the arresting officers. The fact that Lopez-Armenta pointed a loaded gun at the officers, and they did not fire, shows tremendous restraint. He is lucky to be alive today.”

At trial in August, the jury found Lopez-Armenta guilty of one count of possessing fentanyl with the intent to distribute and one count of carrying a firearm in commission of that crime.

In asking for a prison sentence of 180 months plus five years of supervised release, Assistant United States Attorney Erika Evans argued to the Court, “The 10,000 fentanyl pills that Lopez-Armenta brought to this drug deal represented thousands of potential overdose deaths. And he did not just traffic deadly drugs—he did so while carrying a gun.”

The case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Erika Evans and Rebecca Cohen.